Look for new species in the education and training industry

Teacher Weilan has 15 years of experience in teaching and training, focuses on third- and fourth-line education and training institutions (complexes) and personal studios, and creates 374 original content of self-growth OMO models

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Editor's Note:

The author of this article is Mr. Yuan, one of the co-founders of Shimmer

With the methods of the past, it is difficult to do today's things well.

Today's world has become very fast, a knowledge, an experience, last year is still correct, this year's situation has changed, perhaps it is a big mistake.

We have found that the successful experience of the past has sometimes become an obstacle to our progress.

In fact, it is not only the experience of success, but also the experience of failure.

The changes in the external environment are the same in the education and training industry. Many people with educational feelings want to break through the status quo and continue to contribute light and heat to the cause of education, but they have never been able to find a way out.

Why is that?

On April 8, 2022, I watched the first live broadcast of "Su Tan Tan: Dialogue with 100 Commercial New Species" initiated by the New Species Research Institute, and I found the answer in connection with my recent interviews with several education and training institutions.

Find the vitality that can go through the cycle

We know from the theory of evolution that species have been evolving due to changes in the environment, but the direction of evolution is different.

There is a phenomenon called "specialization", consult Baidu Encyclopedia, specialization is an evolutionary way from general to special organisms.

It refers to a specific adaptation of species adapting to a unique living environment and forming overdeveloped local organs, which is a special case of differentiated evolution.

Specialization, which is a strong link to the environment, is essentially some kind of degradation.

For example, pandas, pandas eat bamboo, if the bamboo is gone, the panda is gone. However, according to research, giant pandas were not so precious in ancient times.

You must know that at that time, the giant panda was a wild beast that could be juxtaposed with wolves and lions, its strength was huge, it had a cute appearance, but it had a flesh-eating heart, and was tamed by humans to fight in battle.

However, with the change of the times, the giant panda can eat less and less meat, and later evolved into bamboo instead of meat.

This is the case for many people, who have mastered only the professional ability for one industry or one job, but no ability to migrate. When they encounter a decline in the industry or a replacement of jobs, they are at a loss.

The same is true for many industries. Before the double subtraction, K12 in the education industry was a specialization phenomenon.

When the double reduction policy came out and the original living environment did not exist, K12 was difficult to survive.

There is also a bug called evolutionary theory, and the representative animal is tardigrades, which are weakly linked to the environment and are essentially some kind of evolution. It has a strong vitality and can travel through life cycles.

Taiwanese writer Long Yingtai wrote a beautiful article "Desert Rose", which said that there is a plant called "Desert Rose", which in his hand is a bunch of hay, a real withered, dried, dead grass.

You soak it in water, and on the 8th day it will be fully resurrected; if you take the water away, it will gradually dry out, drying up like sand. Hide it for another year or two, and then one day it will be soaked in water again, and it will be resurrected.

The highest quest for evolution is that anything can be done in order to survive.

Adhere to long-termism, live longer is more important.

In business, we must also look for vitality that can pass through the economic cycle, adhere to long-term doctrine, and minimize the impact of environmental changes.

For example, some education and training institutions have been focusing on improving students' learning ability, rather than single-discipline education.

After the double subtraction, the subject education and training stopped. However, courses that enhance learning ability through quality education can continue, and they can continue to develop through the cycle of environmental impact on the education and training industry.

This "improvement of learning ability" is the ability that can be transferred, which can run through all disciplines of the entire education and training industry, but it does not belong to the discipline category. (It should be noted that it is not a separate problem-solving ability in the subject course)

Look for products that adapt to market changes

The market is constantly changing, and people are always looking for things to adapt to change. Sometimes in order to meet the needs, things will be artificially changed.

For example, because of the need for human survival and development, humans have domesticated animals.

Horses are difficult to raise, there is a saying: horses have no night grass and no fat. Horses are fast, but they are not adaptable to the environment. During the war years, the People's Liberation Army used horses to transport supplies, and there were problems.

Donkeys are good at breeding, not picky eaters, transport supplies regardless of road conditions, and are very adaptable to the environment, but the speed of donkeys is too slow.

The mule horse is a new type of animal that successfully mates with a donkey and a horse, and this animal combines the advantages of both donkey and horse. It has both the weight-bearing ability and resistance of a donkey, and the flexibility and running ability of a horse.

It has a super adaptability to extreme environments, as well as its long-term viability. During the Long March of the Red Army, mules and horses accompanied and assisted the Red Army soldiers all the way to climb snowy mountains, cross meadows, and walk through a long journey, and they made immortal achievements.

For example, two brands in coffee: Starbucks and Luckin.

Starbucks is like a horse, looking at the business circle and picking the environment.

Luckin is like a donkey, do not pick the environment, offline and online can be, some corners of the city can survive.

Look at another tea beverage brand: Michelle Ice City.

Its Slogan is "I don't think you're poor, and you don't think I'm low."

Mi Xue Ice City is like a mule horse, in the post-epidemic era today, the country will soon exceed more than 20,000 stores.

Third-, fourth- and fifth-tier cities are expanding faster and are largely unaffected by the epidemic. It uses the business model of "the best cost and the largest scale" to form a super adaptation to the environment.

On the surface, the market has sunk, but in essence, "the first- and second-tier cities have been downgraded, and the third, fourth- and fifth-tier cities have been upgraded."

Let's look at the education and training industry, after the double reduction, the education and training market in first- and second-tier cities is sinking.

However, in prefecture-level cities, especially in fourth- and fifth-tier cities, the school's teaching staff is limited, and the markets such as learning ability improvement and quality education are upgrading.

At this time, what is needed is the education and training products after adapting to the changes in this environment.

If, you will build such a product (new species), integrate resources, and enrich the value of the product. You will be like a mule, with super adaptability, cope with changes in the environment, and can develop for a long time.

Find the evolutionary direction of new substances: specialize and specialize

We continue to observe another business event. This year, BYD officially announced the suspension of the production of fuel vehicles and specialized in new energy vehicles.

Why did BYD make such a strategic choice? The essence is because it clearly sees the energy strategy and the opportunities of new energy, and does what it does best.

The Internet buzzword "specialized and specialized" is the top ten hot words of the 2021 brand of "China Famous Brand". It means that small and medium-sized enterprises have the characteristics of specialization, refinement, specialization and novelty.

The market needs "specialized and new" enterprises, indicating that the economy is developing from the "demographic dividend" to the "people's heart dividend".

Jiang Nanchun pointed out that the fundamental reason for the current challenge is that the demographic dividend and the traffic dividend are gradually weakening.

If you want to harvest the dividends of people's hearts, it is necessary to seize the minds of consumers through "specialization and innovation", maximize the brand effect, and let the brand grasp the hearts of the people.

So, when we make strategic decisions, do we choose 10% competitiveness, or choose 10 times competitiveness?

Choose 10% competitiveness and you will continue to be in the Middle of the Red Sea.

Choose 10 times more competitive, you may be creating new species, looking for blue ocean.

Wu Bofan pointed out that new species have three requirements: true needs, strong ability, and high adaptability.

For example, in the post-epidemic era, the "real demand" of sports has not shrunk, and Keep amplifies the "real demand" of sports under external pressure (epidemic).

At the same time, through the "strong ability" of "scientific and technological upgrading and three-dimensional health management", a "high adaptation" under the epidemic situation has been formed. As a result, Keep continues to grow.

In the post-"double reduction" era, the "real demand" of education has always been there, and we can also form a "high adaptation" under the "strong ability" of "scientific and technological upgrading and three-dimensional learning management".

This is the use of "specialization and special newness", using technology to empower education and make certain educational products become new species.

A certain scientific and technological education product can directly allow children to learn independently, easily improve their grades, do not need teachers to lecture, do not need training places.

This strong ability has a high adaptability in the "post-double reduction" and "post-epidemic" era, which promotes the growth of some institutions in the education and training industry. (Due to trade secrets, the brand mentioned here is omitted)

Final words

Nothing new under the sun.

What is happening now and what will happen in the future has already happened in the past.

The so-called "new species" are the re-finding of ecological niches after the emergence of restrictions.

Everything has a reincarnation, it's just, whether you find it or not.